Lawrence tennis team picks up three second-place finishes at Midwest Conference tourney

MADISON - The Lawrence University men’s tennis team claimed a trio of second-place finishes at the Midwest Conference Championships over the weekend at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

Cade Francour led the singles contingent by taking second at No. 4. He won a pair of matches before falling to Grinnell College's Michael Conlin-Brandenburg 6-3, 6-1 in the championship match. Francour opened play with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over St. Norbert College's Matt LaViolette 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Francour then blanked Monmouth College's Paulo Pliego 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals.

Oriel downed St. Norbert's Jordan Crump 7-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, but he was downed by Grinnell's Ishaan Tibrewal 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.

Chan opened with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Illinois College's Jacob McQueen in the quarterfinals. Chan then dropped a 7-5, 6-2 decision to St. Norbert's Alex Vandenberg in the semifinals.

Connor Maloney lost his opening match but came back through to win the consolation title at No. 2. He defeated Nazar Otunchiev of Illinois College 8-2 in the consolation final. Bill Schuman-Kline lost in the quarterfinals and was later eliminated in the consolation semifinals.

Two of Lawrence’s doubles teams grabbed a pair of second-place finishes as the No. 1 team of Schuman-Kline and Maloney and the No. 3 team of Oriel and Chan both took the runner-up spot. The No. 2 team of Delgado and Francour reached the championship semifinals.

Schuman-Kline and Maloney opened with an 8-1 win over Joe Mendala and Michael Connolly of Illinois College, and the Lawrence duo then topped Grinnell's Sam Stickels and Conlin-Brandenburg 8-3 in the semifinals. Cornell College's Hayden Dzurisin and Shoma Kishimoto topped Schuman-Kline and Maloney 8-3 in the title match.

Oriel and Chan pulled out an 8-6 victory over Illinois College's Jacob McQueen and Nazar Otunchiev in the quarterfinals before rolling to an 8-3 win over Lake Forest's Brant Christensen and Louis Payne in the semifinals. Grinnell's Ishaan Tibrewal and Zach Lane downed Oriel and Chan 8-2 in the title match.

Delgado and Francour topped John Zanotti and Zach Simonet of St. Norbert 9-8 in the quarterfinals before being eliminated with an 8-5 loss to Grinnell's Ben Cobin and George Kaslow.

SOFTBALL

Illinois College 9-7, Lawrence 0-4

APPLETON - Illinois College took both games of a Midwest Conference doubleheader on Sunday at Whiting Field.

In the first game, Mariah Hedges tossed a four-hit shutout for Illinois College (23-9, 15-3 MWC). She allowed four hits, struck out one, walked one and did not allow a runner past second base.

Catcher Lea Hall did the bulk of the damage for the Lady Blues as she went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer. Hall's homer capped a four-run fourth inning as the Lady Blues seized control of the game.

Madeline MacLean allowed 13 hits and took the loss for Lawrence (11-23, 5-13).

In the nightcap, Ceara Larson went 3-for-3 and drove in a pair of runs for the Vikings. Sofie Pedersen went 2-for-4, and Amanda Karnatz scored a pair of runs for Lawrence.

Lawrence 0-5, Cornell 4-3

JANESVILLE - Lawrence got a standout pitching effort Saturday to rally for a doubleheader split with Cornell at the Youth Sports Complex.

Lawrence took the nightcap 5-3 in eight innings after Cornell won the opener 4-0.

In the second game, Maria Reiter went 3-for-3 and scored a pair of runs for Lawrence (11-21, 5-11 MWC). Madeline MacLean and Ceara Larson both went 2-for-4, and MacLean drove in a pair of runs.

Emilia Jackson went the distance to pick up the victory for the Vikings. She allowed eight hits, struck out four and didn't walk a batter.

BASEBALL

St. Norbert 6-9, Lawrence 4-5

APPLETON - St. Norbert rallied for a win over Lawrence in the opener Sunday at Whiting Field and held on for a victory in the nightcap.

St. Norbert won the first game 6-4 and took the second game 9-5.

In the first game, Lawrence built a 4-2 lead through six innings. Mike Brady had a two-run single in the first, and Patrick McDonnell had a run-scoring single in the fifth. The Vikings loaded the bases with one out in the sixth but scored just once courtesy of a bases-loaded walk to Matthew Holliday.

St. Norbert then scored twice in the seventh to tie it with the help of a hit batsman, an error and a double. St. Norbert took the lead in the top of the ninth as Griffin Jack and Sean Grant both picked up run-scoring singles. Jack finished 2-for-5 and drove in two runs.

The Vikings brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, but Nick Klavekoske got the final three outs for the save.

Brady went 2-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs for Lawrence (11-18, 4-8 MWC). He also took the loss after three innings of relief. Travis Weber also went 2-for-5 for the Vikings, and Reno Zemrak scored a pair of runs. Chris Shaw was superb through six innings for the Vikings as he allowed four hits, struck out six and walked three.

In the nightcap, the Green Knights scored their first six runs of the game as a direct result of walks and a hit batsman. Lawrence issued eight walks in the first five innings and five of those runners came home to score, and another scored after being hit by a pitch.

Lawrence led 3-1 after one inning, but the Green Knights rallied to lead 9-3 after seven innings. Jason Malkowski went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs to pace St. Norbert (20-10, 9-3).

Lawrence rallied in the bottom of the ninth as Nolan Spencer walked and Weber doubled to start the inning. Holliday followed with a single to score Spencer and cut the lead to 9-4. After a strikeout, McDonnell drove home another run with a ground out. After a walk to Brady and the tying run in the on-deck circle, Bryce Braspennickx came on to the final out for the save.

Weber went 2-for-5, Spencer was 2-for-3 and scored two runs and Brady drove in a pair.

Klavekoske went 6.1 innings to pick up the win, and Kyle Duex went just two innings and took the loss.